1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a network facsimile system that transmits/received images to/from an external device in accordance with a facsimile data transmission protocol.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a facsimile system in which a facsimile image is transmitted from an origin station to a destination station via a relaying server has been known. In such a system, the relaying server receives the facsimile image from the origin station and transmits the same to the destination station.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 6-164645 discloses a system in which facsimile data is transmitted as an e-mail message. According to the publication, at an origin station (facsimile terminal), a sub address corresponding to a destination station is input. The relaying server identifies the destination based on the sub address, and transmits the facsimile data to the destination as identified.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,189 B1 discloses a similar system.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. P2002-199150A discloses a system for transmitting facsimile images among devices of which telephone numbers and e-mail addresses are registered in advance. A destination and/or a relaying server is identified based on the registered information, and the facsimile images are transmitted to the thus identified destination and/or relaying server.
In the normal facsimile system, the user at the origin station only need to input the telephone number of the destination to send a facsimile transmission. On the contrary, in the conventional network facsimile systems, the users of the origin station and destination station cannot use the network facsimile system similar to a case where the normal facsimile machines are use. That is, the user of the origin station has to input the sub addresses or the user at the origin station and/or the user at the destination station is required to perform some preparation settings. For example, registration of the information (telephone number, e-mail address etc.) of the origin station and/or destination station should be done in advance.
As above, according to the conventional network facsimile system, the users need to take the existence of the relaying server into account when transmitting facsimile images.